The present invention relates to a device adapted for mixing and delivering food especially food containing large particulates obtained from a mixture of dehydrated material and a diluent such as water and the like, and to a method for providing a hydrated foods that are prepared from such large particulate dehydrated materials.
Dehydrated foods are often prepared in dispensing machines by mixing a metered amount of dehydrated material with a metered amount of water or other diluent in appropriate ratio to obtain a proper reconstitution that makes the final food palatable and as close as possible to the appearance and texture of homemade food, while also being dispenses at the desired serving temperature. The preparation of food in a dispensing device by mixing such a powdered food component with a diluent is practical, speedier and saves labor and catering space in foodservice areas such as in restaurant, fast foods, offices, convenient stores, other public or private work or commercial places, sport arenas, or other places.
Food products, in particular culinary products, that are provided by automatic dispensing systems suffer from several drawbacks. They are sometimes viewed as having relatively poor quality, appearance and/or taste.
There is actually an increasing consumer interest for on-demand food of improved texture, in particular for culinary products such as soup, potage or more solid food such as mashed vegetables and the like. One way for improving the quality is by adding discrete non-dispersible or non-soluble particulates in the dehydrated powder, therefore increasing the consumer""s acceptance for these types of food.
Attempts have been made to employ traditional hot beverage dispensers for reconstituting and dispensing culinary food from dehydrated material such as soup, mashed potatoes and the like. However, those machines of the prior art are not well fitted to properly deliver products of desired texture and quality from dehydrated materials that contain large particulates without risking clogging of the equipment after a limited number of dispensing cycles.
Furthermore, the powder used for making beverages in beverage dispensers, for example, is usually powder that is agglomerated. Once partly moisturized, agglomerated powder is known in the art to more freely flow than a non-agglomerated powder. However, agglomerated powder is also more costly than non-agglomerated powder as an additional step is required during the processing of the powder. Therefore, it is more expensive to use agglomerated material for reconstitution of food preparations, especially for culinary preparations. While agglomeration of powder improves powder flow, it does not necessarily prevent the device from clogging when large particulates are to be delivered.
In fact, traditional machines have proved to be completely inappropriate to deliver food preparations containing large non-dispersible or non-soluble particulates. After being hydrated, these particulates can end up with a size of up to 15-20 mm, and the machines can clog after a few cycles only. Clogging is due essentially to the formation of pieces that are larger than the discharge outlet of the mixing chamber, or due to two or more particles of equal or lesser size than the discharge outlet of the mixing chamber trying to exit the chamber simultaneously. In addition, the mixing devices of the prior art have a tendency to damage the particulates by breaking or cutting them to a smaller size that is unacceptable for preparing the desired food products. The resulting food preparation has poor texture with particulates of reduced size and it does not provide the added value that is expected by the consumer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,927 discloses an apparatus for quickly mixing a liquid with a dry particulate food or beverage material, especially mashed potato mix with hot water, to produce a palatable serving of mashed potatoes. In this mixing machine, a centrifugally agitator rotates on a horizontal axis. The food product enters the mixing chamber in substantially horizontal flow through an inlet port of an end wall and the mixture leaves the chamber in substantially horizontal flow through an outlet port wholly spaced below the inlet port and extending down to the level of the bottom of the chamber. Centrifugal action maintains a pressure difference between the ports that assures fast movement of materials through the mixing chamber to prevent plugging of the machine by the mashed potato mix. However, this device is not designed for dispensing dehydrated material containing large particulates.
Therefore, there is a need for a mixing and delivering device capable of undertaking the preparation from dehydrated food material which contains particulates of desired size, and preferably of larger sizes, to repeatedly make, without clogging the device, final food preparations of richer, better quality and texture. The present invention now satisfies this need.
The invention relates to a mixing device of high versatility as it is able to very effectively mix and deliver food of various types from dehydrated material for serving in a cup or other container at the desired texture. The invention is particularly useful for mixing and delivering food preparations from dehydrated material containing large particulates, such as pieces of vegetable, meat, fish, seed, fruit and the like, while preserving at best the integrity of the particulates and delivering a particulate product of a higher organoleptic and nutritional value into the serving container.
In a preferred embodiment of the device, there is provided a mixing chamber for receiving at least one dehydrated component and at least one hydrating component. The dehydrated component may preferably include large particulates. At least one inlet is provided in the chamber for the dehydrated component and hydrating component to enter the chamber. The inlet may be common to the at least two components or separate inlets may separately deliver the components. An outlet is provided in the chamber that allows the mixture of the at least two components to exit the chamber. A propelling means, later called xe2x80x9cpropellerxe2x80x9d herein, is arranged in the mixing chamber to provide centrifugal forces in a main centrifugal direction. In particular, the propeller is configured in rotation about an axis of rotation to mix and propel the combination of components. The propeller is also positioned in the mixing chamber to provide a pumping action in the mixing chamber as a result of the centrifugal effect. The propeller has a limit plane of rotation corresponding to the rearmost limit in the mixing chamber where the material is submitted to the centrifugal effect. The limit plane of rotation substantially demarcates a suction part on one side and a centrifugal part of the mixing chamber on the other side of the limit plane. Therefore, all material passing forward the limit of the limit plane undergoes centrifugal forces by the propeller in the centrifugal part.
According to an essential aspect of the invention, the outlet is enlarged in its axial dimension as compared to the existing mixing device to be of at least 12.5 mm, preferably at least 15 mm. Importantly, the outlet remains positioned in the mixing chamber relative to the propeller so that at least 50% of its surface area, more preferably 65% and even more preferably 80%, is located in the centrifugal part forward of the rear rotational plane.
As a result, such an enlargement of the outlet shows a vast improvement in the dispensing of the dehydrated component with large particulates without risks clogging whereas the outlet relative position ensures that an optimal mixing action is still maintained. Therefore, in addition to the benefit of promoting the flow of large particulates by the elongated configuration of the outlet, the pumping action is sufficiently effective to provide a satisfactory level of mixing and hydration. In particular, there is no significant amount of material passing all the way through the mixing chamber to exit the outlet without having been submitted to the centrifugal force of the propeller beforehand.
It has also been found that the definition of the outlet above provides the proper residence time for the product to remain in the chamber. In other words, the product remains in the chamber long enough to allow proper dissolving and mixing, but also short enough that air does not become entrained in the mix and particulates do not get destroyed.
In a preferred embodiment, the outlet has a cross section that is elongated and oriented so that its longer axial dimension is substantially parallel to the rotational limit plane of the propeller and positioned forward this rotational plane. The elongated configuration of the outlet promotes, at the same time, a proper passage adapted for large particulates and an appropriate relative position of the outlet to ensure an effective pumping action.
In an even preferred embodiment, the outlet is positioned so that its is wholly placed forward the rotational limit plane of the propeller. As a result, it ensures that all material in transit in the mixing chamber is centrifuged by the propeller and that there is no area of the outlet capable of receiving material coming directly from an area of the chamber located upstream of the propeller.
In the preferred embodiment, the axial dimension of the outlet, or xe2x80x9clengthxe2x80x9d of the outlet, is at least equal to 0.5 times, preferably 0.75 times the size of the diameter of the circular path of the propeller. Even more preferably, the axial dimension of the outlet is at least the same size of the diameter of the circular path of the propeller. Similarly, the transverse dimension or xe2x80x9cwidthxe2x80x9d of the outlet is at least equal to 0.5 times, preferably 0.75 times the size of the projected width of the propeller. Even more preferably, the transverse dimension of the outlet is at least the same size as that of the projected width of the propeller.
The invention also relates to a method and delivering a rehydrated mixture of dehydrated food material containing particulates and a diluent. This method comprises providing dehydrated food material and a diluent in a mixing zone, providing a centrifugal mixing force to form a rehydrated mixture in the mixing zone, and delivering the rehydrated mixture through a dispensing outlet having a cross section that has an axial dimension of at least 12.5 mm by a pumping action created as a result of the centrifugal force exerted in the mixing zone so that the rehydrated mixture does not clog the mixing zone or the dispensing outlet.
Preferably, the outlet is positioned in the mixing zone relative to the propeller so that at least 50% of the outlet surface area, more preferably 65% and even more preferably 80%, is located in the centrifugal part in front (i.e., forward) of the limit plane of rotation of the propeller.
According to one advantageous aspect of the invention, the method provides a delivery of particulates of a size larger than 5 mm, even preferably larger than 10 mm, without clogging and without significant reduction of the particulates size. In particular, the method enables to deliver a rehydrated mixture from dehydrated material containing at least 5 wt. % of large particulates, even more preferably at least 8 wt. %.
The invention also relates to a dispensing device comprising means for storing a supply of a dehydrated component, means for dosing the dehydrated component from the supply, means for providing a diluent from a diluent source, a serving area, and one of the mixing devices disclosed herein.